This year’s Burning Man Festival, which takes place in Black Rock City, in the middle of the Nevada desert, seemed to be the place where celebrities and high-tech multi-billionaires had their lives changed. Sean “Diddy” Combs, roamed around in an all-white outfit, accessorized by a pink scarf with a pink parasol, and matching shades. Diddy tweeted about Burning Man:

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Yet, Diddy wasn’t the only filthy rich person to attend the festivities this year, as the festival has been gaining much popularity among other celebrities and the rich and famous. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz (who has been to playa five times, and is a very active participant) convinced his boss, Mark Zuckerberg to join in the fun (Zuckerberg even pitched his own tent). Many people have been complaining about the intrusion of the super wealthy “paying for their experience” at the self-reliant festival, and an almost changing of the guard, as the festival grows and expands to include more people.

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However, this isn’t entirely true, as Moskovitz shared his experiences of Burning Man, as well as his meeting with the Winklevoss twins (who sued Zuckerberg in 2004 over their ConnectU idea, which he purportedly turned into Facebook) in his blog post, Radical Inclusion vs. Radical Self-Reliance at Burning Man, he writes:

The animosity towards wealthy burners is supposedly based on the concept that they are violating the core principle of Radical Self-Reliance. People too often lose sight of the fact that this is a directional stance and not something actually achievable. Self-reliance is a fully continuous spectrum that extends in both directions forever. Did you build your camp by yourself? Did you pave the road that led to it? Did you grow your own food? Did you weld the frame of your bike? Did you raise yourself as a baby? Every burner is as radically dependent on the community as they are on themselves.

He discusses meeting the Winklevoss twins:

I was reminded of this truth I already knew when I happened to run into Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss near the Temple crew camp on Esplanade. In spite of our tangled history, I had never actually met them; we only communicated through lawyers. These guys are among the only people on earth I might describe as real antagonists in my life or even enemies, but on playa my first instinct was that I quite obviously needed to introduce myself and start with hugs. They had just arrived so I wasn’t sure how they’d react, but they were very gracious at the time and I knew they’d understand more deeply by the time they left. Almost immediately when I got back, I had a Facebook friend request from Tyler and we started a thread mutually extolling the virtues of the festival. In no uncertain terms, he described a spiritual experience. I had created all kinds of dark fantasies about how meeting them would go (Tyler assures me it would have been cordial regardless), but on playa it was laughably clear. There, we were all part of the same community. We were always part of the same community.

If there is one thing that can be said about Burning Man, it is that it undoubtedly changes people’s perspectives on things, whether they are rich are poor. With the exposure and expansion of anything in life, change is inevitable, whatever it is won’t be “just ours” anymore. So, you either roll with the punches and help with the evolution of Burning Man, in this case, or you complain about it and do nothing. Sounds like the greater majority is voting for the former.